hankyoreh

By Jin Myeong-seon and Seo Young-ji, staff reporters

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) had its grade evaluation deferred by the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC), a coalition of human rights organizations from nearly 120 countries around the globe. This is the first time since the establishment of the commission in 2001 that South Korea’s grade evaluation has been deferred.

The decision illustrates how the status of human rights in South Korea has plummeted under the administrations of former president Lee Myung-bak and current president Park Geun-hye, human rights organizations claim. But the NHRCK is stubbornly insisting that the ICC’s decision to reassess its ranking has no direct connection with the human rights situation in South Korea or the activities of human rights organizations.

Moon Kyung-ran, chair of the Seoul human rights commission and a commissioner for the NHRCK from 2008 to 2010, spoke with the Hankyoreh over the phone on Apr. 6. “When we went to the meetings of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in the past, the other participants used to refer to South Korea as a great example of a country that achieved economic growth while also guaranteeing democracy and human rights,” Mun said. “Since Hyun Byung-chul became chairperson [under President Lee Myung-bak], however, they talk about how South Korea has gotten kind of strange and how they are concerned about the new chairperson.”

The South Korean human rights commission has maintained a grade of A - the highest possible ranking - and it even served as the vice-chair of the ICC in 2007, during the administration of former president Roh Moo-hyun. Considering this international reputation, the ICC’s decision to defer ranking is almost as bad as a downgrade, observers say.

South Korea‘s excellent human rights reputation started to slip in 2008, when Lee Myung-bak became president. That was when the presidential transition committee announced that the NHRCK would come under the direct control of the president as part of its government restructuring plan, eliciting a stern rebuke from the UN and human rights organizations inside and outside of the country. The UN high commissioner for human rights even penned a letter of protest to the chair of the presidential transition committee.

After that, the NHRCK and the government caused trouble when they gave the cold shoulder to international human rights experts who visited Seoul to investigate the human rights situation. When Frank La Rue, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, visited South Korea in 2010 and requested to meet with the commissioners, Hyun Byung-chul turned down the request for no particular reason, provoking controversy. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) also shamed South Korea before the world when it was discovered that NIS agents were trailing La Rue and shooting video footage of him. When the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) sent representatives to South Korea In 2011, the NHRCK rejected yet another request for a meeting with Hyun Byung-chul and the commissioners.

The NHRCK’s relationship with domestic human rights organizations has not been much better than those from overseas. “Aside from the weekly site visits, there was absolutely no contact with human rights organizations,” said a former employee of the commission. “They even got rid of the policy meetings with human rights organizations, which had taken place once a year. I even got a talking to from Hyun when I proposed a plan to make a site visit to the memorial altar for Ssangyong Motor workers, which was right around the corner from the commission‘s office.”

“Since Hyun has consistently disregarded the requests made by human rights organizations about current human rights issues, they have had no option but to appeal to the UN and international human rights organizations,” said Myung Suk, an activist with Sarangbang Group for Human Rights.

The Park Geun-hye administration is not completely free of responsibility for the ICC’s decision to defer ranking, either. Yu Young-ha, a lawyer who was appointed as a human rights commissioner in March on the recommendation of the Saenuri Party (NFP), had served as a chair for the Saenuri Party local committee in Gunpo. Significantly, one of the reasons cited by the ICC for deciding to postpone NHRCK‘s ranking was the people appointed to be commissioners.

“The commission secretariat received a proposal to visit the joint interrogation center at the National Intelligence Service as a response to the use of falsified evidence in the trial of an accused spy, but this is apparently being opposed by commissioner Yu Yeong-ha,” said a source at the NHRCK. “The very fact that they appointed a politician as a human rights commissioner is a flagrant denial of the independence of the commission, since politicians can never be free from the influence of power.” Currently, seven of the 10 permanent and non-permanent commissioners have a background in the legal profession as judges or prosecutors.

A letter from the ICC subcommittee for grade evaluation, which was made public by Jin Seong-joon, lawmaker with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, raised three issues with the NHRCK: a lack of transparency in the process of nominating human rights commissioners, a lack of diversity in the people serving as commissioners, and the lack of an immunity clause for commissioners. The ICC asked the commission to send a response by June explaining how it had addressed these three issues.

Despite this, the commission’s understanding of the situation is far removed from the international assessment. On Apr. 5, the NHRCK released a document addressing the ICC’s decision to postpone the ranking, declaring that the delay involves a review of legal and institutional issues and is not directly connected with the human rights situation in the country or with the activity of human rights organizations.

“The committee takes into account the reports of UN special rapporteurs and human rights organizations when reviewing the ranking,” said Yu Nam-young, a former permanent commissioner for the HRNCK who served on the ICC ranking committee from 2008 to 2010. “If the commission does not make an effort to reform, its ranking really could be downgraded.”

“Only 70 of 120 countries receive a grade of A. In Asia, Malaysia and Nepal received a grade of B,” Yu added. Yu represented Asia during his time as a member of the ranking committee.

The NHRCK has received a grade of A during all three of the periodic ranking reviews that have taken place since its launch in 2002, 2006, and 2010. The ICC reviews the activities of member states once every four years and assigns them a grade of A, B, or C. Only countries that receive the grade of A are eligible for full membership and thus gain the voting and speaking rights required to participate in the decision-making process.

“This is a national shame and tragedy for South Korea, which rated other member states for four years starting in 2006,” said Ahn Kyung-hwan, professor emeritus at Seoul National University. Ahn, a former chairperson of the commission, has also served as vice chairman of the ICC. “Independence from the government is a crucial consideration in the grading process, and it looks like South Korea has lost the confidence of its fellow members in that area.”

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